Society Has Changed

We’re all products of our environment. That which we consider right or wrong, true or false, good or bad, is to a large extent a result of what we’ve been led to believe by our surrounding culture. When we hear stories about how North Korea’s residents are inundated with false propaganda from their government about cannibalistic Americans, or how many Palestinian children grow up with the understanding that Jews are apes and pigs, we tend to feel a comfortable distance from those worlds. After all, ours is a free society that embraces differing viewpoints, surely we would never allow such propaganda to be perpetuated here in America!

The reality is, however, that our perceptions are being shaped just as much here in the West, albeit in a more subtle fashion. While it may seem that as we grow and mature we are given the tools to think critically and the freedom to believe what we want, we are to a large extent not only taught HOW to think, but also WHAT to think…This is, of course, not in and of itself a bad thing, but it is important to realize that we are indeed being “coached along” to some extent in what we should and should not believe. What these moral and cultural standards are changes over time, sometimes rather slowly. Dramatic wholesale shifts however, have underlying causes, whether they are brought about by human effort or as a reaction to circumstances that arise.

No topic has undergone more of a shift in cultural perception in the recent past than homosexuality. Considered a mental illness by the American Psychiatric Association only 35 years ago, it is now taught as normal behavior in Elementary Schools across the country. How is it that the mindset of an entire society has been altered so significantly in the last 40 years? Did it just evolve naturally? Or is it a result of some sort of orchestrated plan? In this clip from the lecture series Homosexuality, the Church, and Society, Dr. Michael Brown looks at the changes we’ve seen in society with regard to homosexuality and asks the question, how did all this happen?

How did the homosexual community go from being ostracized by mainstream society, to being embraced and even courted by public education, the media, large corporations, and lawmakers in only one generation? Clearly, this did not happen by chance. As we continue our series Is There a Gay Agenda?, we’ll attempt to cut through the rhetoric surrounding the subject, and expose the reality of an agenda to change America’s perception of homosexuality that has been and is being actively pursued by an activist minority.